Saturday, March 7, 2015

Who Can Separate Us From The Love Of Christ

My Utmost For His Highest

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” —Romans 8:37

“Paul was speaking here of the things that might seem likely to separate a saint from the love of God. But the remarkable thing is that nothing can come between the love of God and a saint. The things Paul mentioned in this passage can and do disrupt the close fellowship of our soul with God and separate our natural life from Him. But none of them is able to come between the love of God and the soul of a saint on the spiritual level. The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. […] Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. […] The things we try to avoid and fight against— tribulation, suffering, and persecution— are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. “We are more than conquerors through Him” “in all these things”; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 7:4). CHAMBERS

There are two major points here.  First, for a Christian, sin can disrupt our fellowship with God, but it cannot undo our relationship with our Father.  Something that we must keep in mind.  1 John 1:9 says we must confess our sins to Him.  That is not just at the point of salvation … but whenever we sin.  Do not minimize the significance of your sin.  Jesus went to the cross because of it.  Adam and Eve were cast from the Garden because of it.  King Saul lost his kingdom because of it.  God can have no part of sin which means you can only approach God with a clean heart.  How often do you approach God’s throne in prayer with sin in your heart … with dirty hands … Psalm 24:3-4 “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart…”

The second point is that God uses difficult times to shape us .. to conform us into the image of His Son.  To understand this, you must understand it from a position of faith and not feeling.  Our feelings are running wild in difficult times … if we do not keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, our feelings will rule us – shape our attitudes – steal our joy.  “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in His wonderful face.  And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace. Oh soul are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There's light for a look at the Saviour, And life more abundant and free” ELGIN

Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

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